Election 2015: Greens' Caroline Lucas wins in Brighton - BBC News BBC News Election 2015: Greens' Caroline Lucas wins in Brighton 8 May 2015 Close share panel Media captionGreen Party's Caroline Lucas: "This is the Green's most successful election campaign ever" The Green Party's Caroline Lucas has held her seat in Brighton Pavilion with an increased share of the vote. Ms Lucas, who became the party's first MP in 2010, gained 22,871 votes, ahead of Labour's Purna Sen with 14,904. She said the election campaign was the "most successful" ever for the Greens. However, despite a record vote share of 3.8%, the party did not add to its one seat, missing out in key targets Bristol West and Norwich South. The swing of 10.1% to the Greens in Brighton Pavilion came largely at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, who were down 11% on 2010 with 1,525 votes, finishing fifth. The Conservatives were in third place and UKIP fourth.

Following her win, Ms Lucas said the Greens had "made history" and had had the "most successful election campaign ever, with almost a million people voting Green". However, she added that the results had shown "the political system in this country is broken". Image caption Caroline Lucas got a hug from a supporter following her victory "It's ever clearer tonight that the time for electoral reform is long overdue, and it's only proportional representation that will deliver a Parliament that is truly legitimate and better reflects the people it is meant to represent." Green Party membership has surged in recent months and the party had hoped it would translate into more parliamentary seats. Green Party leader Natalie Bennett finished third in the safe Labour sweat in Holborn and St Pancras. Analysis, by BBC correspondent June Kelly Natalie Bennett was one of the fresh faces of this election. Following in the trail of Caroline Lucas, an assured leader and media performer, was always going to be tough. Ms Bennett came a cropper before the campaign had begun with a shambolic radio interview which she put down to "brain fade". After that, her personal challenge was to demonstrate she was a competent leader with a grip on policy. She stood in the central London seat of Holborn and St Pancras.

This was safe Labour territory and she came third, ahead of the Lib Dems. Like other leaders of the smaller parties, Ms Bennett was given a more public platform in this ground breaking election. We were told voters were hungry for alternatives. The Green leader needed to capitalise on this and broaden the party's appeal. It appears they have increased their share of the vote, including in some of the big northern cities. Put to her that there had been no Green "surge", Ms Bennett pointed to increases in the party's membership. And she restated her pledge that the party would do "everything we possibly can" to ensure there was not a Conservative government. Asked whether she would step down if the party did not perform well, Ms Bennett replied: "I'll be serving out my full two years' term." BBC News - Election: Green Party gain first MP with Brighton win Election: Green Party gain first MP with Brighton win Caroline Lucas: "It is the start of a new political force in Westminster" The UK has its first Green Party MP after Caroline Lucas won the seat of Brighton Pavilion, with a majority of 1,252 over Labour's Nancy Platts.

Ms Lucas, the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said voters had made history by electing her to Parliament on a swing of 8.4%. "Thank you so much for putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear," she told them. "I pledge that I will do my very best to do you proud," she said. "For once the word historic fits the bill." The Green Party stood in more constituencies in England and Wales than ever before, fielding more than 300 candidates. Although Ms Lucas is their only MP, the Scottish branch of the party has two MSPs in the Parliament at Holyrood, while there are two Green members of the 25-strong London Assembly. One of their MSPs - Patrick Harvie, who represents Glasgow and is co-leader of the Scottish Greens - said the result "changes everything". Caroline Lucas celebrated with her husband after being elected as an MP "The whole party will be over the moon to see Caroline Lucas's triumph in Brighton," he added.

"Westminster was always going to be the toughest nut to crack, and Caroline has made an extraordinary breakthrough." He said the House of Commons would now have "a real voice speaking out against the cuts to public services, for equality and for a greener and more sustainable economy". Ms Lucas has described the prospect of a hung parliament as "interesting", saying it may increase the chances of securing "a fairer electoral system, so that people's voices are properly heard". It would also be important in "giving the Greens that bit more influence", she told BBC News. "So, I think these are pretty exciting days ahead." The party had had 200 people campaigning in the seat of Brighton Pavilion on Thursday to ensure those who had said they would vote Green did so, she said.

Bookmark with: Green party celebrates as Caroline Lucas becomes its first MP | Politics | The Guardian Green party celebrates as Caroline Lucas becomes its first MP Party leader makes history by winning Brighton seat to take 'rightful place in parliament' Friday 7 May 2010 06.58 EDT First published on Friday 7 May 2010 06.58 EDT Close This article is 6 years old The Green party was today hailing a historic general election performance, after Caroline Lucas became the party's first-ever MP by winning the Brighton Pavilion seat. But while Lucas, the Green leader, said the election showed voters "want something different", her party's overall share of the vote actually dropped slightly nationwide, hovering near a disappointing 1%. While they fielded a record 300-plus candidates, the Greens opted to concentrate most resources on just three target seats, Brighton Pavilion among them, a risky decision that seems to have left candidates elsewhere squeezed amid tough battles between the big three parties. Lucas's success in turning a 5,000 Labour majority into a margin of success of just over 1,200, a swing of 8.4%, represents a stunning coup for a relatively tiny organisation.

The 49-year-old MEP – she will now give up her Strasbourg seat – has been the favourite in Brighton for some months, but a resurgent Labour challenge threatened to derail her momentum at the last minute. In the end, the count was sufficiently tight that it was almost 6am when Lucas was finally declared the winner, to shouts of joy and disbelief from supporters in the room. "For once, the word 'historic' fits the bill," she told the audience to loud cheers. "Thank you so much for putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear. This isn't just a moment when one MP out of more than 600 is elected. It's where a whole political party takes, for the first time, its rightful place in our parliament." Her victory comes down to a series of factors, including Lucas's own profile as the face of a party which once eschewed traditional leaders, and a strong party organisation in a city with 13 Green councillors. More than 200 Green activists were on the ground yesterday making sure supporters went to the polling stations.

Additionally, when the decision was made to focus Green efforts on Brighton's sizeable population of students and environmentally-minded types, the party was also more ruthless than stereotype would suggest, with the 2005 candidate, Keith Taylor, dumped in favour of Lucas, despite greatly increasing the party's vote. He will now take her European parliament seat. There was mixed success last night in the other two seats the Greens had talked up, albeit more speculatively, as being potentially winnable. In Norwich South, the 28-year-old Green deputy leader, Adrian Ramsay, increased his vote to 15% but still came fourth as the Liberal Democrats unseated Labour's former home secretary, Charles Clarke. In Lewisham and Deptford, in south London, Darren Johnson saw his share of the vote fall as Labour's Joan Ruddock won easily. Nonetheless, Lucas claimed her election marked "the start of a new political force in Westminister", saying she would decide which party to support in a hung parliament on a "case-by-case basis". As well as two MEPs, the Greens previously had representation on the London, Scottish and Northern Irish assemblies, and more than 125 councillors in England and Wales.

In last year's European elections, the Greens won an 8.7% share, well above yesterday's overall support. At this election, the Greens sought to highlight policies such as a "citizens' pension" of £170 a week and heavy spending on health and education above their better-known environmental commitments. Despite the mixed overall result, the party is clearly thrilled at gaining an MP. Even at 7am, a crowd of almost 200 activists waited outside the seafront Brighton Centre, where the count took place, to mob Lucas as she finally left. "We have done something extraordinary today," she told them as they chanted her name. Brighton and Hove News » Election result: Caroline Lucas increases Brighton Pavilion majority to 8k Election result: Caroline Lucas increases Brighton Pavilion majority to 8k Caroline Lucas has held Brighton Pavilion for the Green Party, increasing her majority to almost 8,000. Caroline Lucas las the polls closed at Hanover Community Centre last night She won the seat with 22,871 votes, a convincing win for the party after she first won with a relatively slim majority of 1,252 five years ago. She said: “Tonight’s victory is your victory.

“I’d like to thank my family – Richard, you are my rock. Isaac, Theo, thank you so much for all of your support and all of your love. “We’ve shown we can win elections and serve the people. Thank you for putting your faith in me again. “This is an incredibly special place. It is creative, compassionate and brave and I’m proud to call it my home. “Brighton made history in 2010 by electing me as the first Green MP. Tonight we’ve made history again. “This is the Green’s most successful campaign ever. It’s even clearer tonight that the time for electoral reform is due. “We’re facing what’s looking like five more years of savage austerity. There are all alternatives and Brighton Pavilion has shown that people will vote for it.” Speaking after the declaration, she said: “Here in Brighton Pavilion we ran a really positive campaign and I think that’s been reflected in the result here tonight. “Nearly a million people voted Green across the country. We came a good second in four seats.” Purna Sen, the Labour candidate came second with 14,904 votes and Clarence Mitchell for the Conservatives polled 12,448 votes in third place.

The other candidates were Nigel Carter, UKIP, with 2,724 votes, Chris Bowers, Liberal Democrat, with 1,525, Nick Yeomans, Independent, with 116, and Howard Pilott, Socialist Party of Great Britain, with 88. There were 186 spoilt ballot papers. Turnout was 71.67 per cent. UK ELECTION RESULTS 2010: Caroline Lucas becomes Green Party's first MP | Daily Mail Online Caroline Lucas becomes Green Party's first MP comments The Green Party has gained its first ever Westminster MP. In a major electoral success, the party's leader and MEP Caroline Lucas took the seaside seat of Brighton Pavilion from Labour. Britain is the only country in Europe which has never had a Green MP elected to its national parliament. Her victory is a remarkable achievement for the party, which has sought to put environmental issues at the heart of the General Election campaign. Caroline Lucas, centre, celebrates becoming Britain's first Green Party MP after winning the Brighton Pavilion seat Speaking after the result was announced she said: "Today the people of Brighton Pavilion have made history by electing Britain's first Green MP to Westminster.

"Thank you so much for putting the politics of hope above the politics of fear and I pledge that I will do my very best to do you proud. "For once the word historic fits the bill." One of the most tightly contested seats in the country, Brighton Pavilion was once a solid Tory stronghold, which was snatched by Labour in 1997. Miss Lucas, 49, beat off female rivals Nancy Platts for Labour and Charlotte Vere for the Conservatives in an exciting three-way race. A CND activist in her youth and a campaigner against US weapons on British soil, privately-educated Miss Lucas has more recently been a leader of the Stop the War Coalition. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The Green party leader has been hailed by the left-wing Guardian newspaper as one of their 'eco-heroes'. Miss Lucas campaign was boosted by the support of actress Joanna Lumley who urged voters to shun mainstream politicians and back the Greens. The Greens have mounted their biggest-ever general election campaign this year fielding candidates in 335 constituencies. Her victory represents a shift towards a more radical style of politics.

As well as campaigning for environmental issues, the party backs higher taxation on the rich, permanent taxes on bankers bonuses and 20mph speed limits in all towns. At the last election, Labour MP David Lepper took the seat with a 5,000 majority. But he announced his retirement before the General Election. The Green party have been steadily building up their polling base in Brighton. At the last General Election, the Greens polled a best ever 22per cent of the vote in the constituency and have 9 local councillors in the area. Local elections 2014: Is Sussex a key battleground? - BBC News BBC News Local elections 2014: Is Sussex a key battleground? 19 May 2014 Close share panel Image copyright PA Image caption Labour's 1997 landslide was a result of winning previously safe Tory seats, including several in Sussex With European and council elections taking place this Thursday - a year ahead of the next general election - the key major parties might well keep a close eye on how they do in Sussex. When political maps of the UK are drawn up, the South East tends to be dominated by blue.

It is easy to think of Sussex as a country dominated by the Conservatives - but it is not always the case. Brighton and Hove has a council controlled by the Green Party and Caroline Lucas became the country's first Green MP when she won a seat in the city in 2010. Eastbourne and Lewes both have Liberal Democrat MPs, while the borough council in Hastings has been led over the past 20 years by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour - who will be hoping to retain control when the town goes to the polls on Thursday. Analysis By Bob DaleBBC Sussex Political Reporter Even in the Conservatives' traditional heartland of the South East, Labour are still hoping to make gains in this election. The party already controls Hastings Borough Council and in last year's county council election it took three blue seats in the town, probably thanks to UKIP watering down Tory support. It was no surprise to see Opposition Leader Ed Miliband on a jubilant walkabout in the town centre first thing the following morning. Labour will be hoping for a similar effect from last year, to strengthen its hold on the council, and place itself in the strongest possible position for the general election next year.

Also high on Labour's hit-list for the election is Crawley. It was taken by Henry Smith in 2010, by just under 6,000 votes, overturning a Labour majority which was down to double figures in 2005. In the 1997 general election parts of Sussex without any traditional Labour support turned red overnight. They stayed this way up until the 2010 election, when the Conservatives regained control of most of their seats in the county and the Greens won Brighton Pavilion. But what would success this year say about Labour's chances in the 2015 general election? Hastings and Rye got its first Labour MP in 1997 when Michael Foster unseated the Conservatives' Jacqui Lait with one of the major swings that helped make Tony Blair's victory such a landslide. Louise Stewart, the BBC's South East Political Editor, said: "Although Hastings now has a Conservative MP - Amber Rudd - the council is currently Labour-led. Ed Miliband said after last year's local elections he was pleased with the gains Labour had made in Hastings and more broadly across the south.

"Labour currently has 23 seats in Hastings, compared to the Conservatives' eight and UKIP's one. "They're hoping to make gains in Hastings again as it's one of their key target seats at next year's general election." Crawley is another Sussex town that voted in its first Labour MP in 1997, only to eventually return to the Conservatives. Foreign Secretary William Hague was campaigning in Crawley on Friday and a day later Ed Miliband was in town. Image caption Hastings is the only place in Sussex with a Labour-led council but has a Conservative MP Ms Stewart said: "A third of seats are up for election in Crawley and Labour are fighting hard here - it's another of their key targets at the next election. "Ed Miliband has made several visits to the town in recent months. And it was Crawley that the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls chose as the location for his party's South East local election launch this year. "During the visit he said Labour had 'a real chance' of taking control of Crawley Borough Council at these local elections." Sussex elections Worthing candidates Worthing and Adur, also both in West Sussex, are the two other councils in the county with elections. They are both dominated by Conservatives.

If the Conservatives are to turn their role as major party in a coalition into an outright majority at next year's general election they will want to retain the seats they won back in 2010. So how much of a guide to next year's fortunes in Sussex could this year's results be, for the Tories, their coalition partners and indeed for UKIP? "UKIP will be pushing hard to build on the single seats they have on Hastings and Crawley councils," said Ms Stewart. "Although they have so far found it easier to make gains in Kent than Sussex. "For the Liberal Democrats their electoral prospects look challenging. They don't have a single councillor on Hastings or Crawley councils and if - as is predicted - they're punished for their role in the Coalition, they look unlikely to make gains." Image copyright Getty Images Green Party celebrates as Caroline Lucas retains Brighton seat in general election while leader Natalie Bennet fails | Daily Mail Online comments The Green Party has held on to its one seat in Parliament with Caroline Lucas re-elected in Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority.

Ms Lucas will continue as her party's standard bearer after winning 22,871 votes, against Labour's effort of 14,904 in the seat she took for the first time in 2010. However, party leader Natalie Bennett was unable to capitalise on her higher profile after the pre-election televised debates and fell to an expected defeat, finishing third in Holborn and St Pancras. The Green Party has held on to its one seat in Parliament with Caroline Lucas (pictured) re-elected in Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority Ms Lucas will continue as her party's standard bearer after winning 22,871 votes, against Labour's effort of 14,904 in the seat she took for the first time in 2010 The party also failed to take its key targets of Norwich South and Bristol West - though it polled a respectable 17,224 votes in the South West city, taking it to second place. But they won more than a million votes across the country - up from 285,000 in 2010 - and heralded a 'green surge' as they scored second-place finishes in several constituencies.

And Ms Lucas increased her share of the vote by 11 per cent compared to 2010, when she won 16,238 votes. RELATED ARTICLES Share 115 shares 'In 2010, Brighton Pavilion showed that a different kind of politics is possible,' she said. 'That you can stand firm by your principles and still be elected. 'And in re-electing me tonight Brighton has made history again. I couldn't be more proud to be an MP of this wonderful city. I'm completely honoured to be able to represent it again. 'But there's not a moment to lose. Amid the most savage, targeted austerity cuts in modern history, and with parties set on wringing every last drop of oil from the North Sea, even as climate change accelerates - the urgency of a strong, clear Green voice in Parliament has never been greater. Party leader Natalie Bennett fell to an expected defeat, finishing third in Holborn and St Pancras 'We will hold Parliament to account and push for real reform - starting with proportional representation, for a politics that looks far more like the people it's supposed to represent.

'And we'll fight for a fairer, greener future - and justice today.' However, speaking after the win, Ms Lucas called for voting reform, pointing out that despite winning more than one million votes, the Greens had only been able to return one MP. More than one million people voted Green and we had a flat second in four places but we have only one seat Caroline Lucas on voting reform 'The result for the Greens was really amazing,' she told Sky News. 'More than one million people voted Green and we had a flat second in four places but we have only one seat. 'There will be people looking for change to our voting system.' Similarly to the Greens, Ukip have garnered around 3.5million seats, but one won one seat - Douglas Carswell's in Clacton. Ukip received more votes than the SNP and the Liberal Democrats combined, but were left in second place in at least 100 constituencies and third in hundreds more. By contrast, in Scotland the SNP grabbed 56 seats with 1.5million votes.

When asked if electoral reform would open the door to Ukip winning more seats, she said: 'I think you have to reflect the democratic will of the people in your voting system. You can't close down democracy because of the votes it throws up.' Ms Lucas said she would consider working with the SNP in parliament, saying both parties had stood on a platform of opposing austerity. 'I will work with the SNP, with Plaid, with anyone who will oppose cuts in Parliament,' she told Sky News. Ms Lucas has called for voting reform as the Greens win more than one million votes, but just one seat Ms Lucas takes her place alongside her fellow Brighton Pavilion candidates for the result announcement Ms Lucas said she has 'no intentions' of returning as the Green Party's leader despite being its only representative in Parliament. 'This election campaign has been dominated by the politics of fear and those have won out sadly, and as a result we face another five years of horrendous Tory cuts,' she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

'My priority will be to find as many progressives across the different parties as I possibly can to work together to oppose those - working with people outside of Parliament as well.' On Labour, Ms Lucas said: 'They themselves engaged in some politics of fear. I think that they failed to show a bold enough vision of a more positive future for this country. 'I think here in Brighton, again, they were throwing things at the Greens. It was a difficult campaign. It was number 19 on their national hit list, they very much wanted the seat back but I think here in Brighton Pavilion we kept a resolutely positive campaign and I think people do respond to that.' Ms Lucas gets a kiss from her husband after retaining the Green seat in Brighton Pavilion Ms Lucas said Labour's failings were in part down to them 'engaging in the politics of fear' Ms Bennett, who finished third with 12.8 per cent of the vote, said: 'I am immensely proud to have led the party into a General Election where we have been able to stand more Green candidates than ever before and saved a record number of deposits.

I’m also very pleased to have won a record result here in Holborn and St Pancras - the constituency I’m proud to call my home. 'Our astounding membership surge in the last year, which means the Green Party now has more members than both Ukip and the Liberal Democrats, has helped deliver tonight’s excellent results. 'The Green Party are the only party that truly stands up for what they believe in and I am delighted to see our commitment to deliver a fair economy, a public NHS and a safe climate has resonated with so many voters. The people have demonstrated their desire to see real change for the common good.' The party moved into second place in three northern cities and finished higher than the decimated Liberal Democrats in 67 constituencies. It is the first time the party has taken second places in a General Election, winning 12.1 per cent of the vote in Liverpool Riverside, 9.8 per cent in Manchester Gorton and 15.8 per cent in Sheffield Central. Jillian Creasy, Green Candidate for Sheffield Central, said: 'I'm delighted to see how far our support in Sheffield has grown in the last five years.

'We are the undisputed challengers to Labour in this area now, and we have high hopes for building on this achievement in the local elections next year.' Deputy leader Amelia Womack, who received 10.1 per cent of the vote in Camberwell and Peckham, said: 'It’s fantastic to see the Green Party increasing our vote share. We’ve already saved more deposits than at the last election and we’ve beaten the Lib Dems in seats across the country. 'The Green Party is the only real alternative to business-as-usual politics in the UK. As the Lib Dems crumble, we’re building a growing movement across this country - this is only the beginning.' The party said, in results declared so far, it had received around 315,000 votes and saved at least 47 deposits - more than ever before. A Green Party spokesman added: 'These strong results reflect the green surge, which has seen Green Party membership more than quadruple in less than a year, to reach over 62,000 in England and Wales alone.

'The Green Party is standing candidates in almost 95% of seats, and its vote share is expected to be three to four times larger than in 2010.' Brighton Pavilion: Can Caroline Lucas survive in the Green Party's only fiefdom? | May2015: 2015 General Election Guide Featured , The 650 | 15th January 2015 Brighton Pavilion: Can Caroline Lucas survive in the Green Party's only fiefdom? For all the talk of a Green surge, the party is unlikely to win […] Photo: Getty By Tim Wigmore For all the talk of a Green surge, the party is unlikely to win any new seats this year. Despite the party’s bluster about its election hopes, its main aim is a defensive one: to ensure that its first MP, Caroline Lucas, is not deposed after a single term. Yet Brighton does not just matter to the Greens. From its performance there, Labour should be able to tell whether Ed Miliband will become Prime Minister. Each of the city’s three seats – Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Kemptown and Hove – were held by Labour between 1997 and 2010.

They fell, in unison, during Labour’s disaster in 2010, but all three have majorities of fewer than 2,000. They now all rank in Labour’s top 30 target seats. In theory, Brighton Pavilion should be the easiest for Labour to gain. It only needs to overturn a majority of 1,252 votes. But the party is struggling to gain traction. A Labour councillor reckons that it is actually the party’s worst electoral prospect in the city. That was borne out by a recent Lord Ashcroft poll, which had Labour trailing by ten points here. Six months earlier, Labour had led by a point. Labour’s candidate, Purna Sen, would add a woefully under-represented demographic in the Commons. Lucas may have benefited from the furore over the Green Party’s apparent exclusion from the TV debates. While Labour’s default setting is to attack the Conservatives for cuts and being close too to big business, it is not quite sure how to respond when, as in Brighton Pavilion, a party does the same to them. I get a sense of Labour’s predicament as I stroll around with Purna Sen, Labour’s candidate for the seat.

She would add to a woefully under-represented demographic in the House of Commons: the first female Asian MPs were only elected in 2010. Sen is a fizzy candidate and no carpetbagger: she has lived in Brighton for six years and been visiting since 1968, when her brother studied at Sussex University. She also possesses “real life” experience of the sort so lacking in Westminster, with a long career in human rights—she was Director for the Asia-Pacific Programme at Amnesty International and an Advisor to Justice for Gay Africans. She even marched against the Iraq War, a seminal moment in moving many Brighton voters against Labour. None of this will matter much unless Sen is able to articulate a powerful case for why voters who self-identity on the left should rid Britain of its only Green MP. While Sen asserts that the Greens are “not in favour of growth” and oppose all housing development, she emphasises her agreement “on a number of positions” with Lucas. In an age of political promiscuousness, this attack rather suits Lucas. But her real case to the voters of Brighton Pavilion is not about policies. “What we disagree with is how to change things,” Sen tells me.

“Her political method is to be outside a mainstream party and to be an independent voice. My strategy is to be part of a party of government that delivers change.” The difficulty is that this pitch – “We’ve got to be practical about what can be done” and “not just protest, which is what Caroline Lucas does, but to govern” – risks sounding like yearning for an age of two-party politics that has long since gone. In an age of political promiscuousness, this attack rather suits Lucas. I meet her manning a stall on London Road. It is a long way removed from North Lane, which, with shops like “Vegetarian Shoes”, is the caricature of Brighton. Several of London Road’s shops have fallen into disuse and are laden with graffiti. The protruding 99p store serves as evidence of the Greens trying to extend their appeal beyond their traditional base of well-off students and young professionals. “It’s too simple and dismissive”, Lucas tells me, to say a vote for the Greens is “only a middle-class vote from the North Lane. It isn’t.

It’s a lot of people who are just fed up with the political system and want to be able to believe in politics again.” But there can be few seats where the two leading candidates agree on so much. Sen has tried to position herself as more pro-immigration than her party and shares Lucas’ opposition to nuclear power. An oddity of the tussle in Brighton Pavilion is that, while Senemphasises areas of agreement between the two candidates, Lucas does the opposite, attacking her as a Labour Party lackey. “I don’t think Purna Sen can have it both ways,” she says. “On the doorstep she’s saying that we need a Labour government. That implies that if she’s elected to represent Brighton Pavilion she will support a Labour government come what may. She will go through that voting lobby according to her party whip.” To Lucas, “by implication she is saying that she will support Ed Miliband even when she doesn’t agree with him.” While Sen emphasises areas of agreement, Lucas does the opposite, attacking her as a Labour Party lackey. Lucas has another riposte to Sen’s claim that a solitary Green MP can achieve little.

She claims that her re-election would lead Labour to be “more radical” and push the party to the left. To Lucas, the timidity of Labour is embodied by its “half-hearted policy” on railways. The party would allow state-owned providers to bid for lines against existing franchises, proof of a party that “doesn’t have the courage of its convictions.” In a commuter town with a notoriously unreliable train service – my train to Brighton is 15 minutes late, which elicits weary resignation rather than surprise among passengers – Lucas’s call for full-blooded renationalisation of the railways is a popular one. And the rare sight of a grandmother asking an MP for a selfie is proof of Lucas’s popularity. Jo, a self-described “activist and anarchist” in her 40s, asks Lucas how she vote for her—in what would be her first vote. The warmth with which constituents greet her is an antidote to the notion that politicians are doomed to be loathed. Even her enemies concede as much. Neil Schofield, a former Green councillor who has now defected to Labour, describes her as “a very conscious, very able MP who has a really strong public profile and has raised issues in Parliament”.

** Lucas’s presence in Westminster reflects the long-term disengagement of the electorate from mainstream parties. The percentage of the population who supported the Conservatives or Labour at the ballot box declined from 80 per cent in 1951 to just 42 per cent in 2010. Brighton has been at the epicentre of this new, pluralistic world. Keith Taylor increased the Green vote in Brighton Pavilion from 2.6 per cent in 1997 to 21.9 per cent in 2005 – a strong third-placed finish from which Lucas, who controversially replaced Taylor as candidate before the last election, used as a springboard to winning the Green Party’s first seat. Brighton has been at the epicentre of this new, pluralistic world. “The sense that people will vote just what they’ve always voted and what their families have always voted is breaking down massively,” Lucas says. “We see that obviously with the rise of Ukip.

But one of the things that the rise of Ukip has done is actually just remind people that there is a greater variety out there in terms of the options of who to vote for.” The rise of Ukip has also allowed the Greens to trumpet its own credentials as the “anti-Ukip” party. Yet support for Lucas has not been replicated by support for the party. Brighton Council, which became the first Green-controlled council in the UK in 2011, is widely unpopular. Shoppers and shopkeepers on London Road grumble about a litany of problems: bin strikes, exorbitant parking prices and a 20mph speed limit. The problem seems to be less one of ideology than competence. Brighton council infamously ranks 302nd out of 326 councils for recycling. The council’s failings are a big threat to Lucas. A knotty pensioner confronts Lucas on her stall, accusing the council of “creating more traffic for no reason”. The exchange ends with Lucas saying she “will pass it on” to Green councillors. Whether Lucas wins re-election will partly be determined by whether she avoids being dragged down by the council’s unpopularity. Her strategy is to run as a quasi-independent.

She describes her appeal to voters as “less a policy issue but just the sense that they’ve got an MP that will stand up for what they believe in”. The council’s failings are a big threat to Lucas, who is running as a quasi-independent. Lucas has not been shy about criticising the council. “There are lots of things I would have done differently to the council,” she tells me. Lucas has publicly criticised its handling of the bin strikes, and calls the parking hikes to up to £20 a day in parts of the city “too far and too fast.” Labour carp that there is little mention of the Greens on Lucas’ campaign literature: the Green Party logo nestles discreetly at the bottom of a Lucas leaflet. That Lucas stood down as Green leader in 2012 makes it easier for her to distance herself from the council, and win over voters like my taxi driver. “I’ll vote for her again because she’s very good,” he tells me while simultaneously berating the council. “They don’t like car drivers.” Should Lucas retain her seat, it will be reward for her competence and assiduousness as an MP.

Even in the Green fiefdom of Brighton Pavilion, voters have no sympathy with ideological grandstanding. While it is a lesson that few Green councillors appear to have recognised, it should not go unheeded by Green candidates, like Darren Hall in Bristol West, who hope to join her in Westminster. Have the Greens blown it in Brighton? | Politics | The Guardian Green party Have the Greens blown it in Brighton? After sweeping to power in 2010, the party talked of building a utopian future for British politics. But bitter infighting and the realities of austerity have left their dream in disarray Caroline Lucas in 2010 and a scene from the Brighton rubbish strike. Photograph: Rex Features; PA Sunday 15 December 2013 14.29 EST First published on Sunday 15 December 2013 14.29 EST Share on Messenger Close The popular image of Brighton is a city where it is sometimes easier to buy a vinyl copy of a Funkadelic album than a pint of milk, and people really do while away the days in vegan coffee shops, dressed in corduroy loon pants.

The reality, of course, is more complicated, but the idea persists of a retro-fixated would-be utopia that has precious little to teach the rest of the country. And yet, for the past two years, Brighton has been blazing a trail away from Westminster's tired three-party system towards a much more interesting way of doing politics. At the 2010 general election the constituency of Brighton Pavilion elected Britain's only Green party MP, Caroline Lucas . Since 2011, Brighton and Hove city council has been led by the same party. The Greens have 21 councillors to the Tories' 18 and Labour's 14 (just to prove that Brighton is cooler than a lot of other places, the Lib Dems have none at all). For the past two-and-a-half years, they have formed a minority administration, pledged to making the city fairer and more sustainable, despite cruel cuts handed down by the coalition. With a slight air of overexcitement, their leading lights say they want to make Brighton like Barcelona, Sydney or Toronto, while other Greens seem to think it can be some sort of revolutionary hotbed a la Petrograd, or Turin – or, if necessary, Liverpool circa 1985.

And there have been unarguable successes. Thanks to the council's crusade for better pay, 102 of the 400 private UK businesses that pay the living wage are located here. The local Greens have embraced imaginative policies on housing and regeneration, and officially declared hundreds of acres of council land "open-owned". Brighton has become the world's first "One Planet" city , and much is made of plans for everyone there to "live well within a fairer share of the earth's resources". What has played out here may well be a portent of life beyond traditional party politics, where a fiercely engaged, socially networked electorate send things spinning away from the usual way of doing things. The trouble is, it has been accompanied by an unholy series of battles that have set the Greens not just against their usual political enemies – witness an ongoing battle over raised parking charges and lowered speed limits – but each other. And now Brighton's radical Green future is in real danger of being snuffed out before it has even got started. The Greens still affect an air of determined optimism.

"William Gibson once said: 'The future's already here but it's not evenly distributed,'" says the Green's council leader (or, to use their preferred title, "convenor"). "Maybe we're seeing the future of politics in Brighton before the rest of the country catches up." His name? Jason Kitcat . The surname, he tells me, comes from the west country, and an era long before chocolate snacks and cat food. It meant that he was teased at school. "Heavily, yeah," he says, with a guffaw. "But it gave me the thick skin to be a politician now." We meet just behind Brighton station, in the New England quarter, at a huge block of reconditioned shipping containers that a local housing trust has done up as flats. They will be used by people currently in homeless hostels: an example, I'm told, of "the Brighton spirit", which exemplifies creativity, ambition, and the idea that you can get things done quicker than some people think. Jason Kitcat, Brighton Councillor … has had 'a few ups and downs'. Photograph: The Green Party Kitcat is 35.

He's a warm, occasionally self-deprecating presence, with a goatee beard that probably makes stereotyping him easier than it should be. His Polish-born wife, Ania, is also a Green councillor. He came to Brighton in 2000 to start an internet business, joined the Greens because he liked the idea of "thinking very long-term", and became the figurehead of the council in May last year. How has his first 18 months at the top actually been? "All councils are having a tough time," he says. "But I'm not going to deny that we've had some ups and downs, and as the only Green council, and the first Green council, there's been particular attention. And we have unfortunately provided some ill-advised stories which have not been helpful." It is something of an understatement. This summer, as hundreds of thousands of people swarmed to Brighton to enjoy the tropical temperatures, the Greens hit big trouble. First, the time came for Kitcat's annual re-adoption as council leader, and one of his own colleagues sent a private tweet to the leader of the council's Labour group, in effect asking if he would support an anti-Kitcat coup .

Inevitably, Labour was delighted, and it gleefully went public. ("It was a tricky time," says Kitcat. "But she apologised profusely, and I accepted her apology and we moved on.") Another Green councillor took to his blog and gave the following glowing summary of Kitcat's record: "Jason Kitcat's policies have time and again betrayed working people, city residents – and the electoral interests of the Green Party of England and Wales." That must have been nice. "I would have preferred it not to have happened," says Kitcat. Then came the infamous bin strike. Kitcat's administration had resolved to belatedly bring the council into line with equal-pay legislation, but the process was handed over to council officers, rather than being worked through by politicians. As some saw it, he was washing his hands of responsibility for the proposed outcome – pay cuts of as much as £4,000 for some of the council's rubbish-collecting and street-cleaning workers. The result was a week-long strike, and strange scenes indeed: rubbish piling up in the streets and businesses being warned against clearing the streets themselves by a mysterious outfit called " the Brighton and Hove Talibin ".

Lucas supported the strikers; Kitcat was apparently nowhere to be seen. Author and local resident Lynne Truss delivered a picture of what happened. "The place turned into Armageddon," she wrote. "Helped by foxes and the seagulls ... a tide of used teabags, eggshells, soiled kitchen paper, banana skins, smelly tin cans, and used sanitary towels (yes!) advanced in such a determined and menacing manner down nice residential streets, you could almost hear it breathing." "It wasn't pleasant," says Kitcat. "It was very difficult. Of course it was. We didn't want to be there." Caroline Lucas celebrates after becoming Britain's first Green Party MP. Photograph: PA Archive/Press Association Ima And how did he feel about Lucas being on one side and him on the other? "Ultimately, we both wanted a fair outcome. The difference was, I was in the driving seat. From a negotiating point of view, I couldn't be out on the picket lines, could I?" He insists that contrary to allegations that he hid himself away, he "was in conversation on a weekly basis with the union officials, and all the officers involved".

He claims the eventual agreement as a success – but those who wanted to portray the Greens as a divided shambles had no end of ammunition, and they were helped by the party's noble refusal to adopt an orthodox disciplinary system whereby any rebels could be whipped into line. Some of them, it was claimed, were "watermelons": green on the outside, but red in the middle, and therefore dangerously leftwing. Others, such as Kitcat, were said to be "mangoes", with orange metaphorical pulp, denoting the cautious and centrist instincts of the Lib Dems. There was even talk of "figs" – green-and-black types – who were essentially eco-anarchists. "There genuinely isn't a kind of hard split between different people, and fruits. It's not the case," Kitcat insists. He laughs like a drain. "The media and the public seem to want authentic, free-speaking politicians, who seem genuine and honest, and not constrained in how they put forward their ideas. On the other hand, every time someone seems to break with the leaders or the party line, they're a rebel, and it's 'splits'.

We're in a bit of a bind, aren't we?" Next year, the Greens come to a big juncture. They will have to make around £25m of cuts from the council's budget, and the scope for efficiency savings will have run out. Kitcat says his party will "do the best we can for the people of the city", but the decisions required will inevitably be unpleasant. Some people think that pushing through such punishing measures will kill the Greens' lefty credentials, and it would be much better if they picked a watershed fight with the government. North Laine district … the classic image of Brighton. Photograph: Alamy Ben Duncan is one of the alleged watermelons, and the councillor who accused Kitcat of betrayal in his blogpost. A former journalist who now works for a Green party MEP, Duncan has floated a handful of provocative ideas, including a "tourist tax" on some of the city's bigger hotels, a possible boycott of one of the taxi firms opposed to the Greens' 20mph speed limit, and the possibility of Brighton allowing the opening of cannabis cafes and becoming the British version of Amsterdam.

When asked on Twitter if he himself inhaled, he said this: "I only smoke weed when I'm murdering, raping and looting!" It was, he says, a reference to the famous anti-cannabis film Reefer Madness, but his political enemies didn't seem to get the joke. Now, he is really on the warpath. There is mileage, he reckons, in the idea of the Greens following the lead of Trotskyite Labour councillors in 1980s Liverpool, refusing to set a cuts-based budget, and thereby putting Brighton in the vanguard of UK-wide anti-austerity resistance. Appropriately enough, we meet in a city-centre cafe called the Red Roaster. "I think we need to do something that makes people think: 'Hang on – if you vote for the Greens you get something different,'" he tells me. "On behalf of people around the country, we need to make it Brighton and Hove versus this government, about austerity.

We should either refuse to set a budget or try and set a budget that under the current legislation would be unlawful, and say to the government, 'Well, you come in and do it – you see how local people benefit from you sending a hit squad in to take over from elected politicians who won't deliver your austerity measures.'" Kitcat isn't impressed. "It's absurd, frankly," he says. "Gestures like that will actually change nothing for residents, because the government will impose a budget on the council anyway." Duncan, however, says he will keep on keeping on – so one presumes that in the buildup to a final decision, it'll be mangoes and watermelons all round, again. The leader of Brighton and Hove Council's Labour group is 46-year-old Warren Morgan, who looks like Al McWhiggin, the villain in Toy Story 2 (thick-set, glasses, neat beard). In September, he called on the Greens to "get a grip, or quit", said they were making Brighton "a laughing stock", and proposed a moratorium on all new Green schemes, "unless it can be proved that they have public support".

He has made a habit of going after the Greens on issues such as cannabis cafes and ill-advised tweets, which may indicate that by Brighton standards he's a bit of a square. At this suggestion, he emits a noise halfway between a groan and a smirk. "Speaking personally, I'm not the most hipster of people," he says. "Some people in Brighton would not identify with that image. It's a very, very varied city. It's not all hipster-cafe arts culture. And we try and represent everybody. "The Greens' focus has been far too much on the city centre," he says. "They are not a party of the estates. They're a party of the city centre and the universities. There's nothing wrong with that electorate, but they need a broader view." With Labour on 38%, the Tories on 25%, and the Greens on 21% , Morgan seems to fancy his chances of being the council's next leader. He and his comrades also want to use the Greens' travails to bring down Brighton's brightest political star, Caroline Lucas.

If her seat fell to Labour, politics-as-usual would return to this patch of the south coast, and the short era of watermelons, mangoes and figs would be over. "I have a lot of confidence in the people of Brighton," she tells me. "And I'm confident that they'll make a distinction where necessary … to be able to judge me on my record. I don't think you can hold an MP answerable for decisions they had no control over. People like to have an independent Green voice in parliament, and irrespective of their views about the local council, I think many people would be very sorry to lose that voice, sticking up for Brighton." That might suggest she's trying to distance herself from her own party's local record, but when prompted, she comes out with a long list of Kitcat and co's achievements. She also talks about her own work in parliament: reminding Labour of its supposed principles and opposing the renewal of Trident, putting the case for the public ownership of the railways, and more. But what happens if all that gets sacrificed on the altar of ill-advised tweets and the bin strike? It'd be a crying shame? "It would be a crying shame," she says, and emits a mirthless laugh.

Does she think of herself as a mango or a watermelon? "I've always refused to answer that question. I don't think it's a helpful question, and I'm not going to define myself as a piece of fruit," she says. I've always liked to think of her as having watermelon-ish leanings. "Thank you. But I'm not commenting on my fruitiness, to you or anyone else." Council leaders say they need 4.75% rise to fund adult social care services because of coalition government cuts Published: 16 Jan 2014 'Green Yes' campaign for Scottish independence also proposes state-owned renewable energy, land tax, and cheaper childcare Published: 15 Nov 2013 Green MP to stand trial after entering not guilty pleas to offences allegedly committed during fracking protests at Balcombe Published: 16 Oct 2013

Question: Caroline Lucas became which party's first MP when she won the Brighton Pavilion seat in last week's General Election?
Answer: GREEN PARTY